AI-Enhanced Productivity: Turning AI into Practical Gains Across Government

For many Federal agencies, the productivity opportunity from AI is no longer theoretical.

The question is increasingly practical: where can AI remove administrative friction, support better decisions and give public servants more capacity to focus on the work that requires judgement, creativity and experience?

That is the focus of the AI-Enhanced Productivity stream at Government Innovation Showcase Federal 2026, taking place in Canberra on 22 October.

Designed for leaders across operations, workforce, finance, corporate services, digital, data, AI and transformation, the stream will look beyond automation alone. It will examine how agencies are integrating technology into everyday work while keeping accountability, human judgement and public trust at the centre.

Explore the event: Overview page | Registration page

Reimagining how government teams work

The stream opens with “Reimagining Government Operations: Enabling Capacity for More Creativity, Efficiency and Strategic Tasks in Teams.”

Belinda Duffy, First Assistant Secretary, Enterprise Systems and Services, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Nicky Bell, General Manager, Data Sourcing, Australian Bureau of Statistics, will discuss where emerging technology can create meaningful capacity across government teams.

The conversation will look at how agencies can modernise legacy processes, use intelligent automation in a supporting role and make more deliberate decisions about which tasks should remain with people and which can be enabled by AI.

The goal is not simply to do the same work faster. It is to create more room for public servants to focus on strategic, complex and higher-value activity.

The future of work is about people as much as technology

AI adoption also raises an important workforce question: how do agencies bring people with them?

In “The Future of Work – Integrating Tech and People: Empowering the Public Sector Workforce for Next-Gen Public Service Delivery,” Sam Gounder, Chief Information Officer, AUSTRAC, and Sarah Polhill, Chief Information Officer, ACCC, will explore what workforce readiness looks like as AI becomes more embedded in government operations.

The discussion will cover staff confidence, capability and change management, alongside the practical challenge of deciding where human expertise adds the greatest value.

It will also examine AI co-design and the importance of involving employees in the way new tools are introduced. For agencies, that matters because productivity gains are unlikely to last if the workforce does not trust the technology or understand how it fits into their work.

Moving from AI experimentation to measurable productivity

The stream will also turn to examples already emerging inside Federal Government.

Thomas Ryan, First Assistant Commissioner, Organisational Transformation, Australian Electoral Commission, and Jade Carson, Chief Information Officer, National Library of Australia, will join the fireside chat “AI at Work: Real World Productivity Gains in Federal Government Operations.”

Their session will look at practical AI use cases, including how agencies can reduce administrative burden, augment workforce capability and move successful experimentation into scalable, embedded solutions.

Importantly, the conversation will also consider how productivity should be measured. Faster processes matter, but so do workforce outcomes, service improvements, fairness, privacy and explainability.

Productivity without losing accountability

Running through the stream is a bigger question for government: how do agencies make meaningful productivity gains without weakening the qualities that make public sector decision-making trusted?

AI can help streamline processes and augment decision-making, but adoption needs to be accompanied by governance, transparency and clear accountability.

The strongest productivity gains will not necessarily come from replacing human work. They are more likely to come from redesigning workflows so technology handles repetitive or low-value activity while people retain responsibility for judgement, relationships and complex decisions.

That balance between technology and people will be a central part of the AI-Enhanced Productivity conversation.

Part of a broader conversation about the future of government

The AI-Enhanced Productivity stream is one of four tracks at Government Innovation Showcase Federal 2026, alongside Digital Services, CX and AI Innovation, Technology, Data and AI Integration, and ACT Digital Futures.

Across the wider program, attendees will hear from senior government leaders through a Ministerial Address, keynotes, executive panels, fireside chats and interactive sessions focused on responsible AI adoption, digital service reform, trusted data, modern technology and workforce capability.

The Showcase is designed around a shift already underway across the APS: moving beyond AI pilots and isolated tools towards adoption that can deliver lasting operational value. Governance, workforce readiness and cross-agency collaboration are becoming just as important as the technology itself.

For Federal Government teams considering where AI can make the biggest practical difference, the day offers an opportunity to hear what peers are doing now, compare approaches and take ideas back into their own agencies.

Government Innovation Showcase Federal 2026 takes place on Thursday, 22 October 2026 in Canberra.

Registration is free for government employees.

Explore the event: Overview page | Registration page